


halcyon days forever

by gymnastics



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Compliant, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fix-It, Post-Canon, Romance, because i’m going to un-dead Vega at some point, idk sometimes we gotta pretend s7 happened and sometimes we gotta pretend it didnt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:21:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26281870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gymnastics/pseuds/gymnastics
Summary: a collection of non-linear jisbon drabbles spanning their many years as co-workers, partners, and eventually, lovers.
Relationships: Patrick Jane/Teresa Lisbon
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	halcyon days forever

love was never meant to be written in the stars for patrick jane after the murder of his darling wife and child. then again, patrick could give two shits about what the stars said because stars can’t talk, let alone write anything. 

he agreed with the sentiment though. there was never meant to be love after angela and charlotte. just anger and despair and even more anger. just the husk of the silly man he might have been once, driven to madness by his own guilt and loss. 

he never noticed the light at the end of the tunnel until he’d already reached it, breathed it, touched it. 

truthfully, the light looked a little bit like this: a petite but fiery female cop, strong in her faith and even stronger under all the walls she’d built around herself, somehow already jaded to the world.

patrick knew the very moment they met that this would be the start of a very promising relationship. 

after all, he had a killer to catch. and somehow, special agent lisbon was going to prove a valuable asset one day, he knew. though he would never know exactly how valuable until he had the carpet ripped out from right under his feet. 

the problem, he would later identify, was that he had all the puzzle pieces loosely fitted in a special recess in his mind. they were all there, and he knew they were there, but he locked them in a box and threw out the key anyway. 

yes, he was a little in love with teresa lisbon. and yes, she was a little in love with him. but he wasn’t going to do a single thing about it. 

he had a killer to catch. 

—

despite what many people may assume based off his file, patrick rarely has nightmares. his wife and daughter visit him some nights when he closes his eyes against the worn leather of his couch in the cbi offices. they tell him kind things, remind him of their love. tell him to give up, find peace, find love again. sometimes, when angela isn’t around, charlotte rolls her eyes at patrick and tells him that it’s okay that he likes lisbon. tells him that angela thinks it’s alright too.

he always wakes up before he can respond. 

—

straddling the lifeless body of red john, hands still trembling from the adrenaline and force it takes to strangle a man, patrick had come to know what peace felt like for the first time in years. finally, all the noise, all the humdrum, all the yelling and screaming and crying from his brain— gone. he feels peace and he could cry at how  _ good _ it feels. how freeing. 

it’s a bit empty, too. 

his only regret is having to say goodbye to lisbon. 

—

he writes letters to her, ones that sound like love letters, confessions hidden in every line. he writes them because he regrets never telling her. he doesn’t regret killing red john. but he does regret bulldozing into her life and screwing it all up for his own selfish revenge. charlotte likes to tease him for thinking that way, because lisbon would surely punch him if she caught whiff of his martyrdom. 

charlotte likes lisbon, and patrick’s a little proud of that. angela is never around when charlotte digs at her dad about his lame crush. but patrick can tell, is almost a little sad when he realizes, that it’s because angela likes teresa lisbon, too. he figures it’s her way of telling him that it’s okay. charlotte always sticks around though, needles him when his heart skips a beat at the mere thought of having teresa back in his arms. he figures it’s charlotte’s way of telling him that he should move on. 

_ don’t worry your pretty little head _ , he tells her one night, sleeping on worn leather of his couch, now relocated to the fbi offices.  _ i’ve got a plan _ . 

charlotte just rolls her eyes and patrick wonders if she got that part from teresa. angela was never much of an eye-roller. he appreciates his mind for trying to reassure him that it’s okay to love teresa, not that it matters. he knows this much by now. 

—

_ yes _ , he thinks, as he watches the sun bathe lisbon like stellar art through the windows of their own little fbi fishbowl, left thumb twirling his wedding band.  _ i’ve got a plan _ . 

**Author's Note:**

> i know patrick told marcus pike that he doesn’t have a plan but.. creative liberty?


End file.
